In the Bridge River
Valley, carved into the
Cariboo Mountains just five
hours northeast of Vancouver,
memories of booming gold
mining towns still echo.
Once the richest gold
mine in Canada, the Bralorne
mine closed 30 years ago, but
the town survives and with it

a portal to the past, when
gold fortunes and mining
communities flourished in the
Bridge River Valley.
Just up the mountain
ridge from Bralorne, the
Pioneer mine is closed, the
town deserted, but telltale
signs in foundations
overgrown with brush are

still visible to hikers
through the thousand acres of
this mining territory.
From the turn of the
century, the Bridge River
Valley drew men and women
from all over the world to
mine for gold. Those
adventurous folk remaining
are only too glad to tell of

70 years in thriving
communities built around the
most productive gold mines in
B.C. history.